Memory cards are known in the art and contain intelligence in the form of a memory circuit or other electronic program. Some form of card reader reads the information or memory stored on the card. Such cards are used in many applications in today's electronic society, including video cameras, digital still cameras, smartphones, PDA's, music players, ATMs, cable television decoders, toys, games, PC adapters, multi-media cards and other electronic applications. Typically, a memory card includes a contact or terminal array for connection through a card connector to a card reader system and then to external equipment. The connector readily accommodates insertion and removal of the card to provide quick access to the information and program on the card. The card connector includes terminals for yieldingly engaging the contact array of the memory card.
The memory card, itself, writes or reads via the connector and can transmit between electrical appliances, such as a word processor, personal computer, personal data assistant or the like. The card may be used in applications such as mobile or cellular telephones which are actuated and permit data access after identifying an identification code stored on a SIM (subscriber identification module) card. The SIM card has a conductive face with an array of contacts, and the mobile phone has a SIM card connector with terminals for electrical connection with the contacts of the SIM card to ensure the subscriber identification confirmation.
A typical memory card connector includes some form of dielectric housing, which is covered by a metal shell. The metal shell may be stamped and formed of sheet metal material and formed substantially into a box-shape. The metal shell and the housing combine to define a card-receiving cavity. One end of the cavity is open to form a card-insertion opening. The dielectric housing may be generally L-shaped or U-shaped and includes a rear terminal-mounting section at the rear of the cavity, and at least one longitudinal side wall section extends forwardly from one or both ends of the rear section at one or both sides of the cavity. The metal shell has a top plate substantially covering the dielectric housing, with side plates extending downwardly over the side wall sections of the housing. One or both of the side wall sections of the housing define the sides of the card-receiving cavity.
Some card connectors include a card eject mechanism whereby the memory card is simply inserted into the connector, and the eject mechanism is used to facilitate removal of the card from the connector. Some eject mechanisms include slider members which engage the memory card for movement therewith into and out of the connector. Latches, cams, eject devices and other operative components then are operatively associated with the slider rather than the memory card itself. One type of card eject mechanism includes a heart-shaped cam slot in the slider, with a pin member operatively biased into the heart-shaped cam slot, and with a spring member to normally bias the slider in a direction of withdrawal of the memory card. This type of card eject mechanism is called a “push/push type” ejector in that the memory card first is pushed into the cavity of the connector to a latched operative position, and a second push on the card is effective to release the card and allow the spring to eject the card from its latched position. Some prior art memory card connectors of the character described above are shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2002-252047; 2002-319451 and 2003-68399.
Such push/push type eject mechanisms continue to have various problems. For instance, after the memory card first is pushed into the cavity of the connector to a latched operative position, it is necessary that the memory card project partially from the connector while being held in the latched position so that it is accessible for the second “push” when it is desired to eject the card from its latched position. Therefore, such electrical appliances as digital cameras, cellular telephones and other electronic devices must be sized or notched so that the rear end of the card is partially exposed to enable the second “push” on the card. Partial exposure of the card can cause erroneous or inadvertent pushing of the card into the cavity, thereby causing an undesired ejection of the card. This can lead to the card being lost. In addition, notching of the rear of the connector to partially expose the card involves costly manufacturing processes. This is particularly true with the ever-increasing miniaturization of such connectors. Some connectors may not even be constructed to allow for such notching. The present invention is directed to solving these problems by providing a system wherein it is not necessary for the card to be exposed at the rear of the connector in order to effect ejection of the card therefrom.